Triple top line (abbreviated as TTL or 3TL), first mentioned by McDonough and Braungart (2002), offsets in the principles of the Triple bottom line accounting framework coined by John Elkington in 1994.
The Triple bottom line is, as the term 'accounting framework' suggests, found on the results level in the company. The triple top line engages the sustainability agenda from the strategic level in the company. A triple top line strategy focuses on top line growth though a focus on design and value creation through products that enhance the well being of nature and culture while generating economic value. An example on the product level is systems that utilizes cradle-to-cradle design, in which one organism's waste becomes the food of another (McDonough and Braungart, 2002).